What is your Christmas family tradition?
Christmas is a family tradition. It essentially inspires family togetherness, which in turn stirs heartwarming and personal ways to celebrate.
The gifts that are found under the tree are just the beginning of the many gifts to be unwrapped. Love and hope, charity and kindness are the ribbons that make many a Christmas tradition lasting. They, too, are gifts so essential and universal they last.
In my bid to highlight Filipino culture, I interviewed some of my friends about their Christmas family traditions. Here goes…
A Mass at home on Christmas Day for the Agoncillos
“It is a simple celebration of Christmas for us at home with both the Santoses and the Agoncillos. That’s our family tradition. Nothing flamboyant, just good food and good company,” says young superstar Judy Ann Santos.
She adds: “It is also our tradition to have a Christmas Mass at home where we also invite our friends to celebrate with us. This tradition started many years ago ever since (the late) Fr. Sonny Suarez gave me a replica of Our Virgin of Manaog from the Vatican. The Mass at home on Christmas Day is also our gift to our loved ones. Christmas is all about Jesus — the reason why we are all gathered, the reason why we are all alive.”
It’s Christmas already after the Trick or Treat for the Hernandezes
“The Hernandezes are big on celebrations, big and small. Christmas is the biggest of them all. It all starts with decorating the house with everything Christmas the minute the Trick-Or-Treaters retreat after All Hallow’s Eve. There should be a lot of Christmas carols playing the entire season. All of the Christmas comfort food should be in continuous supply,” says Dr. Melfred Hernandez, an otolaryngologist and dubbed in his circle as the voice/throat doctor of the stars and prominent singers in the country.
His wife Arlene, a sought-after anesthesiologist, adds that the excitement for counting the days to Christmas heightens on Melfred’s birthday, Dec. 16, which is the start “of the novena of daily dawn Masses, which we always complete (because we live right across the village’s chapel).”
“We hear the Christmas Eve Mass together. The entire household partakes of the Noche Buena. On the morning of Christmas Day, we huddle around our Christmas tree to open the gifts as a family. We always put off opening the non-perishable gifts before Christmas and the padre de familia personally relishes opening all the gifts he has received the entire season during Christmas morn,” says Arlene.
“We complete the novena of Simbang Gabi Masses as a whole family. This year we might break tradition as the eldest son (Matthew) is going to start his residency in UP-Philippine General Hospital, the second (Adie) is in his first year of med school, and the youngest (Aaron) is also busy with college. But the crazy parents will not easily let go of this tradition, and are hell-bent on taking dawn commute to PGH, or Ateneo, or UP Manila, if that is what it takes to keep the tradition alive. That is what the Skyway is for, right?” says Melfred.
The Naguiats look forward to Noche Buena
“Christmas is a special time for our close-knit family,” says Binan City Rep. Len Alonte-Naguiat. “This merry and meaningful season is always precious to us. Now that the kids are grown up and have their own holiday happenings, we get to appreciate even more the importance of spending time together and taking a break from the hustle and bustle of daily life. Our Christmas celebration is always centered on family, including the extended family and everybody in the household, who are really more than family to us.”
“Ever since our kids (Nico and Isabel) were young, we have always made sure that they feel the joy and cheer that Christmas brings. For our family, it is all about traditions that make the holidays special. This includes attending Simbang Gabi and looking forward to Noche Buena. Though the kids are now young adults with their own activities and schedules, it is heartwarming and reassuring to know they continue to look forward to our holiday traditions, making each Christmas truly special,” beams Steve Naguiat, a businessman.
A Christmas gift-giving program for the Gerienes
“No matter where we are in the world, we always have to spend Christmas together. We also have had a Christmas gift-giving program since Marc and I married 32 years ago,” says artist Hera Geriene.
“On Christmas Day,” Hera adds, “we go to church to give thanks. We open the gifts in the morning. And it’s our tradition to have Christmas dinner.”
“There’s always a tradition of giving and reunion for us during Christmas,” says Jean, the younger of the two Geriene kids. “This season allows us to give gifts and love to our family and friends and reunite with them to celebrate the birth of Jesus. This Christmas, my whole family is coming to the Philippines after years of not being able to spend it here together. As someone who hasn’t spent Christmas in my home country since 2020, I cannot wait to rekindle the fire of the Christmas spirit with the people I love. I’m also excited to witness the splendor of the lights that usher in the essence of Christmas in the Philippines once again. I wish that this season would not only bring people together but also serve as a reminder for the birth of Jesus, who exemplifies what it means to love and give.”
Under the Christmas tree with the memories of their mom & dad for Paolo & Snow
“Since my mom (Zeny) passed away in 2013, we have always set up the Christmas tree and the gifts near her urn and her portrait, which we placed in our home in Cavite. She had always wanted to have a Christmas tree for the holidays but the houses we used to live in were never spacious enough to have a big and tall tree. We moved into this house after her passing, and our Christmas tree has always been decorated in shades of pink, which is her favorite color,” says Jose Paolo dela Cruz, managing editor of PeopleAsia magazine.
“Through the years, my mother’s altar and the tree became family central. My dad Jun, my sister Snow, brother-in-law Sadj, and even our relatives and friends would gather around the tree, and near my mother’s urn for Christmas and usually take pictures there. In a way, she’s always part of the celebrations, I guess.
“In 2022, my dad followed my mom in heaven. We placed their urn side by side. We are setting up the tree for them to enjoy from another place, together, holding hands perhaps, the way we remember seeing them in life.
“This is the last Christmas we’ll be under one roof though, since my sister and I have also decided to lay them to rest at the columbarium after the holidays. Now that their ashes are together again, we don’t feel that either of them would be lonely.”
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